In this episode of the Inside EMS podcast, Chris and Kelly are joined by paramedic student April McKenzie 鈥� aka 鈥淎pril Anonymous鈥� 鈥� for a deep dive into the buffer system and CO2 mapping.
April鈥檚 in the thick of paramedic school and like every good learner, she鈥檚 asking 鈥渨hy?鈥� 鈥� so the guys break down the physiology behind capnography, acid-base balance and the lungs-vs.-kidneys showdown that keeps our patients alive. Plus, they throw in old-school war stories, rant about naloxone misuse and admit that bicarb is no longer the go-to cardiac arrest drug.
If you鈥檝e ever tried to explain respiratory vs. metabolic acidosis in under 10 minutes, this episode is your cheat sheet. April will be back throughout the year with more student questions, so buckle up for the ongoing EMS education you didn鈥檛 know you needed.
Quotable takeaways
- 鈥淛ust because you see somebody with signs and symptoms and the protocol says, do this; that鈥檚 OK, but that just makes you a protocol paramedic.鈥�
- 鈥淢y friend Romy Duckworth calls [capnography] the MVP of vital signs, and that鈥檚 a good way to remember it 鈥� MVP: Metabolism, Ventilation and Profusion. And it will tell you derangement about all three of those things very well once you鈥檙e proficient at interpreting the waveforms.鈥�
- 鈥淏asically, the buffer system is the body鈥檚 way of keeping the pH stable. So, if we鈥檙e blowing out, if we鈥檙e having problems with respiratory acidosis 鈥� and let鈥檚 talk about CDKA, where they鈥檙e trying to blow off 鈥� it鈥檚 the respiratory systems鈥� way of making sure that we have homeostasis.鈥�
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Catch a new episode of the Inside EMS podcast every Friday on鈥�鈥�,鈥�,鈥�, and鈥�. Enjoying the show? Please take a moment to鈥�. Contact the Inside EMS team at theshow@ems1.com鈥痶o share ideas, suggestions and feedback, or let us know if you鈥檇 like to join us as a guest.
